Create multi-account workflows

Multi-account workflows, a feature of multi-account management, introduces a new action in workflows that'll allow you to create a new contact, or edit an existing contact, in a different HubSpot account in your organization.

Before you get started

Before you begin working with this feature, make sure to fully understand what steps should be taken ahead of time, as well as the limitations of the feature and potential consequences of using it. 

Understand requirements

• You must have set up and configured a multi-account management organization.
  • To set up multi-account management, you must have a HubSpot account in your organization that has Marketing Hub Enterprise.
  • Some functions within multi-account management require subscriptions to other products. 

Please note: Multi-account management can't be set up in sandbox accounts or trial accounts.

• Once your multi-account management organization is set up, you'll be able to use the new action in workflows in any account that has multi-account workflows turned on as a source account in the connection.
• The available accounts to use in the action will be every account that you have configured to be a destination account for Multi-Account Workflows for that account.
• To view and use the new action within workflows you must be a Super Admin in each account within your multi-account organization. 
  

Understand limitations & considerations

• Accounts storing sensitive data can't be a source for multi-account workflows.
• Turning on multi-account workflows will introduce a new HubSpot defined property on the contact object called Cross-sell Opportunity which can be set to Yes or No.
• Currently, the workflow action will only be able to create or edit contact records in the other account. But, the workflow trigger can use any type of object. For example, if the trigger uses a deal object, the action will find the contacts associated with the deal that's enrolled in the workflow.
• If the workflow is:
  • Editing contacts in another account: you'll only be able to set the Cross-sell opportunity property.
  • Creating contacts in another account: you'll be able to set the Cross-sell opportunity property, and then the Email, First Name, and Last Name of the created contacts will be automatically set, based on the values from the contact that the action is executing on.

• HubSpot determines if a contact already exists in another account by comparing the email address for the contact in the current account and the other account. 
• You may only select one account per use of the new workflow action. To edit or create contact records in multiple accounts, add the workflow action once for each account you want to include.
• It's your responsibility to ensure that you're collecting the right consent for data processing and communications, if you're creating records in the other account. If the workflow creates a contact in another of your HubSpot accounts, you should then set the legal basis of processing and email subscriptions in that account.
• It's recommended that you create a complementary workflow in the destination account that either triggers from the records being created or from the cross-sell opportunity property being updated on a contact. If you're creating the contact in another account and intend to market to the contact, then that complementary workflow should include setting the contact as a marketing contact and updating their email subscription.

Turn on multi-account management workflows

The user must be a Super Admin in every account in their multi-account organization to be able to turn on multi-account workflows in settings. To turn on multi-account workflows:

1. If you haven't already, set up your multi-account management organization.
2. In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
3. In the left sidebar menu, under Organization Management, click Multi-Account.
4. Click Edit Account Connections.
5. Select an account from the left panel and toggle the Multi-account workflows switch on.
   
   
6. Connections are two-way by default (features work both ways between accounts). To change the connection to one-way (features work from one account to another), click One-way connection.
7. Click Next.
8. Click Done.

Create a multi-account workflow

Once multi-account management workflows are turned on, to create a multi-account workflow:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Automation > Workflows.
2. Click Create workflow.
3. Click Create workflow, then select From scratch.
4. At the top, click the name of the workflow and enter a name.
5. In the left panel, define your trigger.
6. Click the + below your trigger.
7. In the left panel, click CRM, then select Edit/create contact in another account.
   
   
   • Click the Target contact dropdown menu and select an option:
     • If the trigger is a contact trigger, select Enrolled contact.
     • If the trigger is a deal trigger, select Contact: Most recently updated to update the most recently updated contact, or Contacts: All associated to update all contacts associated with the deal.
       
       
     • Click + Add contact data source to use contact-based workflow actions the workflow.
   • Click the Edit contact in the following connected account dropdown menu and select the account where the contact will be edited, based on the trigger. 
   • Select the Create contact in the selected account if it doesn't exist checkbox to create contacts in the account if they don't exist. The contact record will be created with the email, first name and last name provided by the Target contact field.
   • Click the Cross-sell opportunity dropdown menu and select Yes or No.
   • Select the Clear existing property value checkbox to clear existing values in the Cross-sell opportunity property.Configure the action:
8. Click Review and publish to review your workflow.
9. Review each step, then click Turn on workflow to make the workflow active.

Suggested use cases

The below are the two most common use cases that we encourage customers to think about setting up.

Routing form submissions to another account

• Multi-account customers often create a form in one HubSpot account that collects interest in different brands, segments, or regions that are spread across different HubSpot accounts.
• To carry out this use case using multi-account workflows:
  • Create a new workflow where the trigger is a form submission.
  • Use the new workflow action to create contact records in the other account if they don't already exist.

Cross-selling

Multi-brand businesses often want to sell or market one brand’s products to a person or company, once they express interest or buy a product from another brand. To carry out this use case using multi-account workflows: 

• Create a new workflow where the trigger is the outcome that identifies the contact as a cross-sell opportunity. For example, when a deal becomes Closed Won.
• Use the new workflow action to edit the cross-sell opportunity property on the contact in the other account if it already exists, and if not, create a new contact with the cross-sell opportunity property set to Yes.
• Typically, you’ll then have a separate workflow in the destination account that triggers from the cross-sell opportunity property of a contact, to then cross-sell or cross-market to the contact.
• It's your responsibility to ensure that you're collecting the right consent for data processing and communications, if you're creating records in the other account.